1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to an apparatus and method for electrically distributing power to a plurality of electrical devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present state of technology with respect to the distribution of power from mother boards to daughter cards within computers or other electronic packaging systems is either handled by bringing power to the mother board and distributing the power to the daughter cards via circuit traces on the mother boards, or by bringing power directly from a power source to the connectors which house the daughter cards.
Daughter cards are aligned on the mother board in lateral arrays upstanding from the mother board in vertical planes. The daughter cards include a plurality of integrated circuit hardware mounted thereon including both logic and memory chips. The daughter cards include several traces which terminate to one side edge for interconnection to an edge card connector. The traces include both traces for data and power, as the circuit components must be powered.
The mother board is typically configured as a large printed circuit board consisting of a nonconductive material such as a glass epoxy. The mother board also includes a plurality of edge card connectors to which the daughter cards are connected. The edge card connectors include pins projecting through holes in the mother board to form a dense pin field on the back side of the mother board. As the daughter cards include both signal and power traces on the board, the pins which form the pin field are interconnected to both power and data.
The increasing need to conserve more printed circuit board space and to more densely populate the printed circuit daughter cards with more components has led to the requirement for more power to the daughter cards to power the components.